We have entered the final stages of working on XR 1.0. Countless improvements have been made, and a great deal of work has been invested in the FPS performance, game complexity, ease of modding, bug fixes, new content and lots of other aspects of the game. I will list some of the things that were done and some that are near completion, mostly the kind which i can attach pictures of . Many of these aren't yet visible in Testing, but they do exist and will be released very soon.

- LODs (levels of detail) have been added for the units that had none, like the Predator. This helps reduce the performance impact on the computer when rendering multiple units which aren't close enough so every detail counts.

- The Catapult, which got new LODs as well, now also features a... nomad!

- Major fixes to screwed up unit models, out of which the Stalker and Predator stand out. Before:

After:

- Distinctive and visible squad markers were added for both races to really make the squads feature useful. Soon, siege units will be given the same markes also.

- New officer flags for all squads:

- New GUI squad selection icons:

- A new Savage logo is in the making. It will be fully 3D which would make it available for all kinds of uses, including Youtube clips, customizing and so on. Mind you, this is not the final take on this, which would feature the "nature" theme as well.

- New tools for mining, building and repairing. The special mine/build anims will probably be reverted completely and these tools will be visible instead for said actions.

- The Unique Items system is 100% working. Some clans already know this! And don't worry, we plan to offer unique items gifts to all NSL clans by the time XR 1.0 is released.

- A large number of tree foliage texures and tree models have been greatly improved by Mchief and Babajaga. A big topic is going to be posted soon about it. (next pictures are not the latest versions)

- New high quality maps / terrain textures made by Aneurysm. Will be made part of the mapping news thread as well.

- New props are being added for map makers to be able to come up with original set-ups.

- New vote type facilitating playing any mod on any server on any time: "/callvote mod mod_name". This will simply load the specified mod on the map currently loaded (if it doesn't use special maps). This is greatly helping with the next entry.

- The gameplay changes discussed in the Re-Balancing Suggestions forum are carefully analyzed and tweaked by a group of Newerth admins, and implemented in a sandbox-type mod, called "Evolution". Players will be able to load it at anytime and experience the new changes and then, community input is welcome before transplanting them to mainstream Savage servers. Last discussed suggestion was S18. These are the results, which don't automatically exclude the suggestions not present here, in view of a holistic approach to re-balancing:

* Healing tech research costs decreased: buildings, units, abilities, items) cost reduced by 50%.* Monastery/Sanctuary now do not require Arsenal to be built in order to unlock them.* Rupture improved: 50% increase in ammo, damage rounded to 90 (compared to tempest's 170), +10% larger splash damage area, 10% bonus damage to all enemies in the area it hits, for each enemy it touches and up to 3 enemies per shot (1=100%, 2=120%, 3=130%).* Mana Crystal became consumable. It can be thrown like disruptors, it breaks on impact and produces 3 pickable mana crystal goodies.* Sensors are now stackable, max 2, single slot. Total team sensors: 16.* Ammo boxes now refill ammo over the 50% limit, if player has ammo pack.* Sprinting costs 20% less stamina, for both races.

- The "Evolution" sandbox mod also features 2 new siege/melee units: the Mech and the Glider. They exist out of the hope that just as the addition of Medics to Savage, they are too going to add to the replayability factor and strategy diversity of the game. They are available for Testers to try, by simply using /callvote mod evolution. But mind you, they are not final in any way, shape or form, as nothing is, until Savage XR 1.0 is released.

High poly

Low poly (2990 polys)

Ingame

This is a clip i've put together with screenshots taken during the development of the Mech. Enjoy!

There are a gazillion fixes and code improvements i don't have the proper knowledge to explain properly. Mohican and Clemens went out of their way to tame silverback. I can only name a few points:

- VoIP system is almost done. Buffering has been added to it and the possibility to talk to All/Team/Squad/Specs.

- XR Demo Replay functions properly and is able to play demos recorded with any previous version as well.

- New Stats Screen, accessible from within Main Menu, without the need to connect to a server - by Crash.

The release of XR 1.0 will bring many other features not covered in this post, like Python server triggers, anti-hack protection and detection, a clan management panel, achievements and custom items shop. We really hope you will enjoy playing it as much as we did making it!

good grief that's a lot of shit, nice work, I was beginning to get worried about 1.0.

Also what exactly is the sandbox evolution mod?

I found the explanation quite clear. I assume it is a modification to the standard mod to implement new features that change the original gameplay like the new siege units, new weapon damage, etc. Change like squad system that don't affect the original gameplay in a fundamental way isn't part of the sandbox. It's just a mod to try new stuff and see if players like it.

/callvote mod evolution = Savage + rebalance + new stuff (for one match only).Normal Savage is unaffected as long as you don't vote for the evolution mod.This allows players to test it whenever they want to and give us feedback before even thinking of applying the changes to normal Savage.